Doris Alsop Woodson

Doris Jean Alsop was born in Washington, D. C. on January 20, 1931 the second child of Joseph Alsop and Naomi Moore Alsop. Doris and her older sister Ruth, were very close growing up attending Elementary, Junior High and High School in Washington, D. C. When their parents divorced, their mother, affectionately called “Honey” had to raise her girls as a single parent. This in no way prevented her from seeing that her girls had every opportunity to engage in activities of their choice. The girls took ballet and tap dancing and were presented to society as Debutantes in high school. Soon after high school Doris married Ronald Woodson, a student attending Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and spent much of her time on campus while he completed his degree. Along with their first child Linda, the family settled in Washington, D.C. where two years later a son, Ronald junior was born.

After another daughter Sherrie was born, in 1956 Doris returned to college to pursue a degree in Elementary education receiving her Bachelor's degree in 1961 from the University of the District of Columbia, during which time she joined Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Upon graduation Doris immediately began her teaching career at Woodridge Elementary School and then received her Master's Degree in 1964 from George Washington University.

Doris was soon recognized as a master teacher and was assigned to teach at the Goding Demonstration School, a site utilized by the school system to showcase the best teaching methods and most effective classroom management strategies. Two years later Doris was reassigned again to the LaSalle Laboratory School, as an instructor in the teacher training program of the University of the District of Columbia. Doris then was moved again, this time out of the classroom when she was appointed to the position of Special Education Supervisor.

When Doris was awarded a Fellowship under the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” she pursued a doctorate in the field of Special Education. As an ESEA Fellow she also took a year of sabbatical leave from the school system to conduct research in special education and complete work on her dissertation. Doris received a Ph.D. in Special Education in 1970 from The Catholic University of America during which time she was initiated into Pi Lambda Theta, a National Honor and Professional association for Women in Education. Soon after she was appointed to the position of Assistant Superintendent for Special Education/State Director of Special Education for the District of Columbia. This position she held for fifteen years before being appointed, by the Board of Education as Deputy Superintendent responsible for all educational programs and services in the District of Columbia public school system.

As a divorced mother of three Doris expanded her involvement in education by teaching undergraduate and re-certification classes at both Federal City College and Trinity College in Washington, D.C. In 1971 after only one year in the capacity of Assistant Superintendent D.C. Public Schools/State Director of Special Education Dr. Woodson became eminently involved in the Mills v Board of Education Decree, a landmark legal case in special education and forerunner litigation to Public Law 94-142. Additionally, at the request of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children(PARC), Dr. Woodson was called to testify as an “Expert Witness” in their special education class action suit, PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In 1994, after more than forty years in public education, Dr. Woodson retired to accept a full-time teaching position in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida. She and her husband James Whitehead, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer(Retired) relocated to Palm Coast, Florida. Doris retired from the University of Central Florida in 2007. James, her loving husband of thirty-three years, died suddenly on December 1, 2008 leaving a void in her life.

Shifting her focus from education to retirement Doris began to pursue a leisure life of being active in her sorority, playing Mah Jongg, fishing, traveling extensively, and writing. She is survived by three children, Linda Woodson (husband Samuel); Sherrie Cook (husband Eldon) both of Palm Coast, Florida; Ronald Woodson, Jr. of Washington D.C.; three step children James Whitehead, Jr. of Atlantic City, New Jersey and Washington D.C.; Valerie Whitehead and Rodney Whitehead of Raleigh, North Carolina; her grandchildren, Steven, Lara, Nathan, Nicole, Crystal, James 3rd, Devena, Sabrina, Rico, and Jamie, as well as eleven great grandchildren, and a host of other family members and friends.

A Celebration Gathering will be held November 16, 2024 starting at 12:30pm at Craig-Flagler Palms Funeral Home followed by a Celebration of Life at 1pm.